


As You Go Down For Your Gold

by thehaikubandit



Series: The Monsters That Lurk [1]
Category: Black Sails, Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Apparently this is the only AU I know how to write, Canonical Character Death, F/F, F/M, M/M, Max and Miranda deserve better and they're gonna damn well get it, Multi, mostly set in Australia because why the hell not?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-09
Updated: 2019-06-02
Packaged: 2020-02-29 01:26:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18768379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thehaikubandit/pseuds/thehaikubandit
Summary: A Black Sails/Pacific Rim crossover because I love to think about drift compatibility and play with that.





	1. I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Silver is a thief who is sensible about storm safety and Richard Guthrie is a dick who gets what he deserves.

“You’re supposed to be working the top of the wall.” The man glared at the newcomer. The newcomer gave a shrug which sent his shoulder length, black curls bouncing. They should have been tied up according to the OH&S posters that littered the site. But they weren’t.

“And you could equally work the top of the wall, but yet here we both are.”

“ _I_ have a family. And I’m no good to them up there. But you, what do you think the foreman will do when he finds you down here?”

“Let’s save the worries for if he catches me. I have a feeling with the cyclone warning today he’s got more important things to think about.”

“So you’re down here because you’re scared of a little rain.”

“I’m down here because standing on the top of a metal structure in a storm could just be the stupidest fucking choice anyone ever made.”

 

And with that announcement the Kaiju siren went off.

The man and the newcomer made eye contact and then ran for the nearest shelter, shoving each other as they did so. Then the man dropped something. And ignoring the sirens, the rain and the closing of the shelter doors he turned back and ran for it. Luckily, despite this, he made it to the shelter in time.

 

“Now what’s so important that you’d run toward a Kaiju?” asked the newcomer, wiping the rain off his face. 

“Nothing.”

“Really?”

Unluckily for the man it was only the two of them who had made it inside this particular shelter. So while outside a category three Kaiju tore through a poorly built safety bunker like an explosion and the Jaeger commonly referred to as the Walrus drove it back into the sea before tearing it limb from limb, inside, the man we shall  call John Silver became the new owner of a USB  stick .  The other man, well, let us just say that his heart gave out.

So when the PPDC cleared through the wreckage of the building site and  opened the shelter, they found only one man inside. 

“My name is John Silver,” he said. “And I happen to be a very good engineer.”

 

~

 

“You,” said Richard Guthrie. “Are both supposed to be in Sydney. Doing your jobs, and letting me do mine here.”

“We need to talk,” said Flint.

“And you couldn’t have done this over the phone? Or by vidchat? You had to come bother me in Canberra? And who the hell is this?”

“Billy, I’m Billy Mandalay.”

“Good for you. I should be in a meeting with the leader of the senate to get us more funding. Instead I’m meeting people I don’t need to know about.”

 

“Let me tell you a story,” said Flint, leaning back in his chair. “About an engineer named Vasquez. Now this man worked with the research team in Lima. You might have heard about the new neural circuit pattern they’ve been developing using a gold based alloy. The faster neural impulses lead to a stronger drift, and allow for a faster Jaeger. Recently, the team finished designing the blueprints for the Jaeger. It was due to go into production in a month. That Jaeger is L’Urca de Lima.”

He paused at that, aware that both Billy and Guthrie knew what that meant, and had heard what L’Urca de Lima was supposed to be capable of.

“Only,” he continued. “Rumour has it, Vasquez took those plans. And intended to sell them to the Americans.”

“That’s a nice story,” said Guthrie. “But why exactly is it something I care about?”

“Because the sell off was supposedly going to happen in Brisbane, until the cyclone and the attack. And the man Parrish, who had was going to buy the plans, died on the construction site shortly after his shelter was hit by the Kaiju. So I need access to your contact in ASIS to help us find them. We’d be able to build a Jaeger faster and stronger than any other. And nothing would stop us from beating back the Kaiju.”

“No.”

“What?”

“No. Not only would this lose me any contacts that I may or may not have with ASIS, but would also jeopardise our relationship with both the US and with Peru. All so you can have a shinier toy.”

“Those shiny toys are the only thing keeping you and your politician friends from being eaten by a Kaiju.”

“I said no.”

Flint stood and moved fast, pinning Richard Guthrie against his desk.

“Flint...” said Billy.

“Billy, lock the door.”

Face pushed into his paperwork Guthrie heard a click. Whether or not it was the lock he couldn’t be sure.

 

It was the sound of sirens outside that caused them to all pause. By the time the AFP entered, Guthrie was sat back in his chair and to all the world they were just another three people having a business meeting.

“Officers,” said Guthrie. “How can I help you?”

“Richard Guthrie,” said the lead officer. “You’re under arrest under Section 141.1(1) of the Criminal Code. You have been charged with the bribery of a Commonwealth Official...”

Flint and Billy were allowed to leave in time for their flight. It wasn’t like the police didn’t know where they were going.

“What happens now?” asked Billy, somewhere in the air over country New South Wales.

“We hope that Eleanor can do a better job than her father,” replied Flint. “And we find those plans. No matter what it takes. That new design is worth any cost. And I’m the pilot who will best be able to keep up with the increased neural speed. I’m our best hope at winning this war.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this first work is basically going to be inspired by Season One, but with some liberties because this is my fic and I can. I've got a whole universe planned out and can't wait to share my ideas with you all. Please let me know what you think and what you want to see more of! You can find me in the comments section or on twitter @the_haikubandit


	2. II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which lots more fights happen off screen because writing conversations and bad place name jokes is more fun. And because I'm bad at writing actual serious fic. But I promise I'm trying!

_“Vane to the director’s office,”_ came the announcement over the PA system.

Silver paid it little mind. He currently had other concerns. Like walking fast enough that he could get lost in the crowd. And getting to Max’s office before Flint and his men caught him. The stolen USB drive in his pocket felt hot, like it was going to burn him.

“We need to talk,” he said, barging into Max’s office. She and the man she was with both looked up.

“We’re having a meeting here,” said the man. “Wait your turn.”

“Right,” said Silver, not moving.

“Outside!” they said in unison.

Silver turned to go, then turned back.

“See the thing is...”

The man swore at him and marched out, shoving Silver roughly out of his way.

“Come back later,” Max called after him.

“We have a problem,” Silver told her. He started to explain.

 

Outside the PA speakers crackled into life once again.

_“Charles Vane if you don’t get your fucking arse into my office in the next five minutes I’ll ensure you never fucking fly again.”_

 

~

 

Billy found Gates at a table overlooking the canteen. He watched the people below and sipped his coffee.

“Aren’t we supposed to be looking for the new engineer?”

“Have a seat Billy. Take a break. Watch the world go by.”

He gestured at the crowd below. Two men were arguing furiously and pointing at their tablet screens. All Billy caught were the words “it’s the fucking same”.

Billy sat down.

“How can you just be sat here after everything that happened? And with the drive, the fight. You nearly lost your co-pilot!”

“But I didn’t.”

“Because I lied,” Billy’s voice caught a little. “I lied to protect him. That drive was empty.”

“You lied to protect everyone,” said Gates. “Flint’s a better pilot than Singleton any day of the week. Who would you rather have in a Jaeger? He’s who we need. And fuck knows I’d rather have him in my head.”

“You told me to keep an eye on him, when we where we were visiting Guthrie.”

“He can get carried away. But you both made it back here, so I know you did fine.”

“If the cops hadn’t arrived when they did...”

“But they did. There’s no point worrying about what could have been.”

 

Down below one of the men who had been arguing abruptly stood up.

“Time to go,” said Gates.

“Go where?”

“That man is Harris Fraiser,” Gates said, standing and beginning to follow the man through the crowd.

“And?” Billy followed after him

“If you had plans to sell and wanted to verify that they were authentic, who would you get to verify them for you?”

“An engineer, who ideally has some contacts in… oh...”

“Yes, oh. So we follow the man, and we’ll find our thief.”

 

~

 

“Eleanor,” said Max with a smile. She pushed away the first aider who was trying to fix the cut on her face.

“Everyone out,” said Eleanor.

The room was empty in an instant. Arrested father or not, Eleanor was still in charge. At least for now.

“Max, I need you to give me the drive.”

The smile disappeared from Max’s face in an instant.

“What drive?”

“Don’t bullshit me Max, you were talking about being able to move inland this morning. And your little black market scheme isn’t that profitable.”

“Fine,” said Max. “Let us say I have a drive. Let us say I have a buyer for that drive. Come with me.”

“I can’t leave this. This is our only hope for a future.”

“Fuck the world and it’s future. There is no winning here. You cannot fight these monsters forever. This fight has taken everything from you. And now your father. So come with me, there is a flight to Alice tonight. We could be on that plane.”

“I’m sorry Max,” said Eleanor. “I can’t.”

 

She pressed the button to open the door. Billy and Gates stood outside with Flint.

“The drive, Max,” said Eleanor.

“If you admit that you are throwing away everything for this. That you are throwing away me. That you will not lift a finger to stop them hurting me to get this.”

Eleanor said nothing.

“Admit it!”

There was a long silence. She scoffed when Eleanor wouldn’t meet her eyes.

“The Rocks,” she said. “At sundown. Near where the clock tower was.”

 

~

 

James’ hand shook as he put the key in the lock. Between the fight with Singleton in the dojo and the fight with Silver for the drive he wasn’t at his best. He probably should have gone to the medbay and not left the base, but he needed to see Miranda. After everything that had just happened he could use something good.

The small suburban house was only a forty minute drive from the Shatterdome in Cronulla, but it felt like it was a whole world away. James still remembered them trying to choose somewhere for Miranda to live. Neither of them cared about much at that point, numb and grieving. In the end Miranda chose the house because she liked the idea of giving James a home in Padstow. Years later, she was still there.

She opened the door before he could turn the key.

“Take off your boots,” she said. “I’ll run you a bath.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the Rocks/Wrecks joke was too funny to pass up, plus I feel like after Sydney was bombed and Kaiju started to show up the value of waterfront property plumeted. The idea of Miranda living in Padstow just won out over the joke about Miranda living in Miranda. Comments are still guaranteed to absolutely make my day and I will love you forever. What do you like? What do you not like? Let me know!


	3. III

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Plans are made and Richard Guthrie is a dick. So pretty much business as usual.

 

“There,” said Silver. “Decrypted.”

Flint looked over the plans.

“Where’s the rest of it?”

“The rest of it?”

“This is barely half of the information we need to build this Jaeger.”

“Well, you all seem rather angry with me.” Silver looked around the room at Eleanor, Flint, Mr Scott, Gates and Billy. His grin didn’t fade at their furious stares.

“If I give you all the plans,” he continued. “What’s to stop you from killing me right now? No, I’ve encrypted it in two parts. I’ll give you the rest when you need it. And in the mean time, keep me around. I’m sure I can do something useful under your watchful eyes.”

Flint laughed. It wasn’t a particularly happy sound.

“And just what is going to stop us from killing you when we have the rest of the plans?”

“Well,” said Silver. “By my calculations that’s a good few weeks away. We might be friends by then.”

 

“Fuck that,” said Billy. “I say we get Joji in here. He’ll be able to decrypt the drive.”

“I wouldn’t do that,” said Silver. “I had to hide the data in a rush. Who’s to say what could happen to it if it was tampered with?”

“We’ll keep him around,” said Flint. “For exactly as long as we need him.”

He didn’t need to finish the obvious threat.

“Good enough for you?” Flint looked at Eleanor. She nodded. Billy looked so angry he could have powered a Jaeger solely with the force of his rage.

“Billy,” said Gates. “Why don’t you take Mr Silver here and give him a nice, safe, job. I’m sure that Randall could use some help recycling circuit boards.”

 

~

 

“If you make me come all the way up here to meet you in your fucking black market chair again, we’re going to have a problem. And I’m going to make sure you no longer have a fucking chair.”

Gates stepped into the operations hub and glared at Hornigold. The two or three staff members who were checking screens and running tests all froze and tensed.

“The next time you threaten my chair, I’ll make sure you never set foot in that walking scrap heap you call a Jaeger again.”

There was a long pause. The silence was broken when both Gates and Hornigold burst out laughing.

“Everyone go have a break,” said Hornigold. “I need to talk with Mr Gates here alone.”

Hornigold’s staff, ex-navy the lot of them, left without hesitating. Gates watched them go and felt shocked that they hadn’t saluted. They all still carried themselves like they were in the military.

 

“So,” said Hornigold. “I hear rumour is that you’re building a new Jaeger.”

“I’m sure you’ve heard more than rumours.”

“Well, people talk around a base like this Hal.”

Gates laughed and sat on the edge of a desk.

“They gossip more than a fucking tabloid.”

“That’s what comes of being stuck out in Australia, most of them are goddamn criminals with no sense of how to run an operation.”

“Hey,” said Gates. “This is a damn good Shatterdome and you know it.”

“And yet I still somehow know that you’ve got your hands on the L’Urca de Lima plans.”

Gates shrugged and grinned.

“Hell of a risk stealing those from Peru.”

“Some risks these days, more dangerous not to take them.”

 

“So,” said Hornigold. “You planning on piloting the thing?”

“Well, Flint’s the best pilot we have.”

“You need two to drift. And you could use some new blood. I’ve got two very promising candidates. Disciplined, strong, young…”

“Flint won’t give up a chance to pilot L’Urca. And he doesn’t want somebody new. Him and me, we share a kind of shorthand.”

“Oh please,” said Hornigold with a wave of his hand. “Drift compatibility is easier to find these days than radiation free seafood.”

“Well, that’s a damn hard thing to find.”

“So,” said Hornigold. “You won’t take my men, but I’m guessing you still need me.”

“We need a work force to build the thing. So in a way, we still need your men. Just, for building and not for the piloting.”

“And Flint didn’t want to be here to ask for help?”

“He thinks you don’t like him.”

“Well he’s right about that. The man’s an arrogant shit.”

“Ben, come on. This could make a difference. A real difference, and you know it.”

“Fine. But you’re arranging to pay the overtime.”

 

~

 

“You?” said Flint, glaring across the table at Vane. “Go fuck yourself.”

“Excuse us,” said Gates, grabbing his arm and dragging him out of the room.

There was a rather heated discussion outside. Eleanor looked at the door as though it had personally done her a great wrong. Vane ignored the noise and played with a coin, making it dance across his fingers. Jack smiled.

 

“Terribly sorry,” said Gates, coming back into the room. “So, Vane and Flint are to pilot the L’Urca together. What’s to say that they’re even drift compatible? It’s going to take a strong bond to move that thing.”

“Well,” said Jack. “I’m sure we can run them through some simulations first. That’s all we’re asking. And in return, we might have… suppliers… who can help get the materials to build the Jaeger.”

“You mean fucking scavengers stealing from the dead in Oblivion Bay.”

Gates held up a hand and looked at Jack apologetically. He and Flint left the room again. Cue more shouting. It included the words “I’m letting the Kaiju win over letting that hipster fuck into my head.”

“Be honest,” said Vane, opening his mouth for the first time since they’d come into the room. “How surprised are you that I’m the only one behaving myself?”

Jack opened his mouth to offer a witty retort but realised that Vane was talking to Eleanor.

 

“Okay,” said Gates as they returned again. “Where were we?”

“Drift compatibility.”

“Yes, exactly. So, let’s say they’re not going to be able to pilot together. And for the sake of avoiding further arguments, let’s say we’re not going to try. What then?”

In the end they worked out what was essentially a custody agreement. Only in this case the child was a giant, monster killing robot. With a 70/30 split of course. At the end of the day, Flint still had the plans.

“So do we have a deal?” asked Gates.

“Almost,” said Jack. “We just need to make sure we have someone impartial to adjudicate it. After all, what’s to stop you going back on your word when L’Urca is built?”

“You have my word,” said Eleanor.

“Honey,” said Jack, in a tone that indicated he was either braver or stupider than a lot of men. “What do you think that’s worth these days? Now, I would have suggested your father, but, well...” He trailed off and spread his hands wide.

“What the fuck was the point of today if you were going to pull some shit like this?” Gates asked him.

In the end Vane settled things. He stood and looked down at Jack.

“Her word’s enough for me,” he said. With a nod to Eleanor, he left the room.

“Well,” said Jack. “I guess that settles that.”

 

~

 

Miranda handed Richard a cup of tea. He nodded in thanks.

“Thank you again,” he said. “For allowing me to stay while these, unfortunate, charges are cleared up.”

“Any friend of James’ is a friend of mine.”

“I’m sure. Does it work both ways?”

“I’m sorry?”

“Well, the cultist preacher who seems so interested in your situation here. I’m sure that he and… James… can’t be on the best of terms.”

“No.”

 

Guthrie took a sip of his tea.

“I have something to confess,” he said. “I must have gotten lost last night and couldn’t help but see the photo of you and your husband. Now, I’ve been living away from the UK for a long time now, but I do remember some of the more familiar faces. Thomas Hamilton, wasn’t it?”

Miranda held her own cup so tightly her hand shook.

“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.”

“Oh don’t worry, I would never say anything after you’ve been such a kind host in my hour of need.”

She set down her cup before she could drop it. Whether her hand was shaking from fear or anger Richard couldn’t be sure. He didn’t entirely care.

“Such a sad story,” he said. “As I remember it, he and a promising navy officer were sent to the Pitcairn Islands to see if the UK could assist in the fight against the Kaiju. Only the navy officer had an affair with Mrs Hamilton, and the shock of finding out in the drift drove Thomas mad. Brain damage, wasn’t it?”

Miranda said nothing. Her face was very carefully blank.

“A pity that it killed him in the end. I can only imagine that the naval officer is Captain Flint. You drifted with him yourself until they ended the program in the Pitcains didn’t you? I imagine that would have put some strain on your relationship. No wonder you want nothing to do with the program here.”

 

“Well,” said Miranda. “I’m glad you think that you understand my story.”

They said nothing more to each other and when the tea had been drunk, each of them made their preparations for sleep in silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And nothing bad happend to Max because fuck that shit entirely...
> 
> I hope you're all enjoying this nonsense! It's a lot of fun to write. Soon the plot is going to start to diverge a bit more, because giant monsters or not a lot of characters deserve a lot better. Also I apologise in advance if updates get a little slower. I'm moving to the other side of the world in a few days, so as you can imagine life is kinda chaotic. I'll see what I can do though! As always any comments will make me the happiest person alive.


	4. IV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything starts to get much more AU but Flint still may or may not straight up do a murder.

“Fuck you Jack.”

“Oh believe me, I would much rather be fucking than trying to drag your miserable arse out of bed. And yet here we both are. Get up!”

“Fuck -”

“Yes, fuck me.

Vane threw a pillow at him. Jack counted himself lucky that the first thing he’d grabbed was the pillow and not the empty vodka bottle. Especially because it hit him in the face.

“So Eleanor’s pissed off with you because you pulled some shit with her girlfriend.”

Vane made an angry growling noise.

“Ex-girlfriend, fine. The point is, she can’t fire you completely unless you give her an official reason to. Like, say, being drunk and not showing up for duty.”

Vane gave him the finger, lay back and closed his eyes.

“If you want your damn chance to pilot back, get into a shower and prove to everyone you deserve that job for a reason. Because with her father gone, it’s only a matter of time before someone else takes command. And then, you get another chance.”

 

Jack left the room at that and ran straight into Anne who was waiting outside.

“’S he up?”

“Not yet. One fucking chance at getting near a Jaeger and now, suddenly, piloting helicopters is beneath him. It’s not like we’ve been demoted, he needs to pull his head out of his fucking arse.”

“ _We_ weren’t demoted.”

“Look, the woman betrayed us. So she’s cleaning, we didn’t actually follow through on getting her deported. It’s not the worst punishment she could have gotten.”

Anne muttered something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like “Then you do it” and Jack rolled his eyes.

“Why the fuck are you so bothered about what happened anyway?”

“Fuck you Jack.”

One day, Jack swore. One _fucking_ day, people were going to be too in awe of him to tell him that. And the sooner it came the better.

 

~

 

Flint often wondered what his life would have been like if the Kaiju had never decided to attack Earth. On the one hand, he’d never have met Miranda or … well, on the other he’d never have lost anybody either. And while he’d have been stuck in the navy with shit pay, he wouldn’t have had to deal with the bullshit he did now.

For example, idiots yelling at each other while he tried to look over the repair schedule for the Walrus. He waited for them to shut up. It didn’t happen.

Looking up he saw a man yelling at Silver. What the fuck was his name? One of the bald ones. Flint usually didn’t have to bother with names, Gates did that for him. Flint smiled slightly, glad that Silver was being yelled at. If only he could do that.

Unfortunately for Flint, he needed Silver if he wanted to build L’Urca. So as pleasing as it was to watch, he should stop them.

 

“What the fuck is going on here?”

“Captain, this moron got us all electrocuted.”

Flint glared at Silver who shrugged.

“And how exactly did he do that?”

“He didn’t disconnect the power before we started repairing these circuits. He had one job!”

“I swear I turned it off,” said Silver. “It was probably just static.”

Flint checked the lines. They were certainly live. Not all of them, thank Christ, or he’d have a load of dead crew, but enough to give anyone working on them a jolt.

“Looks safe to me. I’d say it’s just the static. Why don’t you all get back to work?”

 

The bald man clenched a hand in anger, but didn’t respond. He stomped off to where the rest of the crew were working.

“Thank you,” said Silver. “I may not be a qualified engineer but I’m fairly sure I know what an off switch is.”

Flint slammed Silver’s hand down onto the wires and he jumped, pulling his hand back.

“You missed two lines, you shit,” he said. “Any more and you could have killed someone.”

You need him for the plans, Flint repeated to himself. Do this for the plans.

“Now,” said Flint. “You are going to do exactly as I tell you...”

 

~

 

“ That’s because you don’t know about Mrs Barlow.”

“ Who?” asked Billy.

“It was before you joined us,” said Morley. “When Flint first arrived in Sydney. There was a training exercise. We were meant to test the Walrus’ speed. That was all.”

He paused and stared out at the ocean. The moon wasn’t quite full but there was enough of it to light up the dark waves. Billy had a feeling that it wasn’t the ocean that Morley was  seeing . 

“Flint suggested a test run along the coast,  m anoeuvrability and that sort of thing. He threw out all the right technical words. You know how he can twist things to get what he wants. And of course everyone thinks it’s a great idea.

But a little while in, Flint starts complaining something isn’t right, and they need to bring in the Jaeger to shore. They get on land and the  plasma cannon mysteriously discharges. Hits a hotel.”

 

“The Marie Aleyne?” asked Billy. He remembers the headlines. It  had  brought about a ban on  bringing Jaegers near  civilian sites,  for any reason other than a direct Kaiju attack . 

 

“The Marie Aleyne,” confirmed Morley. “Now I was sent to look over the  cannon  afterwards, couldn’t find a damn thing wrong with it. So I talked to Gates. He says it was an accident, and given he was in the cockpit, I trusted him at the time.

Only when I’m walking back to my quarters after the shift I see Flint talking with a lady.  Some pommy woman he brought over with him. And I he ar  him say two words to her.  ‘ They’re dead.’

What happened to that hotel was no accident.  He destroyed it on purpose. And he destroyed it for her.”

 

~

 

It happens fast. One moment Flint’s talking with Eleanor. The next there’s a snap, someone shouts “Look out below” and then the arm plate is falling. He hears a scream.

He runs towards it as do Billy and Morley.

“Leave it,” he shouts at Billy. “Secure the line.”

When he gets to the fallen plate he sees Morley at Randall’s side. Randall is screaming in pain and reaching for his pinned leg. The plate, still secured by a single line, creaks.

“Pull,” he shouts to Morley over the sounds of alarms and shouting. They both grab Randall, one under each arm, and heave. He doesn’t move.

 

There’s a clang. Flint looks up to see Silver, who has dropped a fire axe next to him. Flint nods, and Silver, self preserving as always, runs.

“Hold him still,” Flint says. He picks up the axe and thinks of chopping wood and solid, non-living things. Bringing it down over and over on Randall’s leg he fights to ignore the splash of warm blood across his face.

Finally it’s done. And then he hears a second snap.

 

When Billy rounds the side of the arm plate, this is how he finds them. Flint cradling the now unconscious Randall, and Morley pinned beneath the fallen plate.

 

~

 

Richard Guthrie returned back to Miranda’s house and found her waiting with his bag packed.

“I take it,” he said. “That this means you have thought about my offer. I promise you, help me to escape inland and I’ll guarantee both you and your Captain employment with my family. Boston is very far away from the Pacific ocean. And from the reach of the PPDC.”

She smiled at him. And if he’d been paying attention he would have seen where Flint learned to smile like that. It was not a smile you wanted directed at you. Unfortunately for Richard, he was caught up on the success of his earlier meeting.

“Someone is indeed coming to collect you very soon,” she said. “Please, come have a seat.”

When the AFP arrived a few moments later Richard was a great deal more surprised than he should have been. After they had taken him away Miranda sat down at her computer and began to draft an email.

“Dear Eleanor Guthrie,” it read. “while I lack the required visa for paid employment in Australia, I believe that I and my work may still be of use to you...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So because I want better for Max and Miranda they're gonna get it, especially because it's not 1715 and women have slightly more options.
> 
> Max still lost her job and nearly got sent back to New Caledonia (cos hey, French Pacific) which is not the best place to live come Kaiju. Hence Eleanor being super pissed at Vane.
> 
> Thank you for reading, for the kudos and the comments! I'm going to be a little better with updates because I'm finally beating the jet lag! Hurray! 
> 
> As always I can be found on twitter @the_haikubandit


	5. V

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The crew prepare to take on the Andromache, Eleanor tries to take charge and Vane takes some annual leave.

“Get the crew packed,” Gates said to Billy. “We’re being sent to American Samoa for a training exercise with the Andromache.”

“Weren’t we meant to be working on where to get materials for L’Urca?”

“It’ll have to wait,” said Gates. “We can’t do much if we’ve all been kicked out of the PPDC.”

And so here they were, flying as fast as they could over the Pacific.

“Right,” said Billy over the radio. “So here’s the plan. The Andromache is already on route, they were returning to LA from Sydney anyway. We meet them outside of Pago Pago and get four hours to tune up the Walrus. Word is, the PPDC is planning on decommissioning a mark three. So let’s make sure that we beat them and that it’s not us. Now, the Andromache has bigger guns, and clocks a faster time than we do. So we need to make sure we get Walrus in the best shape we can and keep her that way. The recent fix should help us a little.”

“So,” said Logan into his mic. “What’s the point in flying out here before they give us all the fucking sack? If they’ve got more weapons and a better Jaeger what the fuck do we have?

“Mr Beauclerc.” said Billy.

Anyone who could turned their heads to look for Mr Beauclerc. He looked up from his tablet and smiled.

“He’s got a new neural program we’re going to run,” said Billy. “And if we can keep it running, it should give Flint and Gates the edge they need win this.”

There was a pause as everyone took in that in a few hours they may or may not be employed.

“Walrus,” said Billy. “Let’s beat this bitch!”

 

~

 

Charles, Jack and Anne walked into the facilities office and made a beeline for Mrs Mapleton, Mr Noonan’s secretary.

“You’re not meant to be in here,” she said. “Mr Noonan is very unhappy you stole his best worker.”

“Mr Noonan,” said Jack. “Has had a change of heart. You might want to check your emails.”

She pulled up the message that she’d been copied into. Charles took a packet of gum off her desk and tossed a few pieces to Anne. They both perched on the edge of the desk, backs to Jack and Mrs Mapleton.

“You’re telling me,” she said. “That Mr Noonan, the same Mr Noonan who was determined to have you all fired, has retired inland and been replaced as the manager of Shatterdome facilities?”

“That’s right.”

The silence was punctuated by Charles bursting a bubble of gum.

“And where is Mr Noonan now?”

“Oh, I believe he left the premises as fast as he could. Messy business, he was shouting some awful things about you.” Jack shook his head and tutted.

“And I’m just supposed to believe this? And not to take it to Eleanor Guthrie?”

Jack smiled at her.

“What did you earn?”

“Standard contract, $55,000 a year.”

“Let’s make that $75,000. We both know that you deserve far more.”

“Let me show you to your office.”

 

~

 

“You all know of my father’s arrest,” said Eleanor, looking around the conference table at the men.

“And you also know that he was rearrested for breaching his parole terms and meeting here with Bryson. Thanks to that fucking news report you also know that they want to ensure his replacement is “less involved”. To this I have have two things to say. Fuck him, and fuck that.”

She gripped the back of her chair so hard that her knuckles went white.

“I have given all I have to this place, to stop the Kaiju. What right does anyone have to say I’m not doing my job? So we’re going to continue the work we’re doing here. The work my father was supposedly in charge of. Without my father.”

The room remained silent.

“Listen,” she said. “We’ve got the Black Hind and the Intrepid. Now, they may have the lowest two kill scores of the ‘dome, but we own them outright.”

“Excuse me!”

“Lawrence, it’s basic fucking maths. If you don’t like it, kill another Kaiju. But the point is, you and Naft are private, the PPDC can’t touch you.”

She smiled at them.

“So, you threaten to move them if they don’t grant me command. To take them to one of the private bases.”

Lawrence looked unconvinced, but Naft leaned forward.

“Fraiser,” Eleanor continued. “As engineers go, you’re one of the best. Your word in support of our operation would help secure things. And I’ve got a scientist who wants to come onboard and open up a biological research team. That gives us another advantage.”

“So,” she said, looking at Hornigold. “All that’s left is somebody to run operations. The man in the fucking fort. Who happens to come with an ex-navy crew and a shitload of experience. With the lot of you behind me, they won’t take this away and replace me with fuck knows who. Or worse, close this place and send the resources to fund Russia, or Hong Kong. You all know that they’re talking about downsizing. Well I’m not giving them the fucking chance.”

Hornigold folded his arms.

“On one condition,” he said. “You have a piloting slot coming up. And I want you to prove that you can be sensible. Business minded, if you will. And that you’re not being controlled by your emotions.”

“You want me to give L’Urca to your people?”

“No,” he said. “I want you to give it to Vane. Give him back the deal, let his men deal with the helicopter teams as usual.”

“Fuck you,” said Eleanor.

“You do that,” said Hornigold. “And you will have my support. And my support will give you every man in this room. But if you don’t reinstate the deal by the end of today, I leave for Hong Kong and take my men with me.”

He stood, and pushed his chair in firmly.

“Think about it,” he said, before turning and leaving the room.

 

~

 

“Charles,” said Jack, tripping as he tried to keep up. “Where the fuck are you going?”

Vane ignored him and kept walking towards the garage. He held his motorcycle helmet in his hand, and was wearing his old leathers.

“Listen to me,” said Jack. “Something’s changing. There’s a good chance that Eleanor is going to have to honour her deal. You’re going to get to pilot. Things are happening up in command.”

“That’s not important,” said Vane.

“Excuse me?”

Vane paused and turned to face him.

“Piloting, it never should have been about that.”

“Charles, what’s going on? They said you’ve requested leave. Where are you going?”

Vane turned and ignored him. Hopping on his bike he flipped down his visor and left. Jack was left coughing and staring after him, none the wiser about what was going on.

 

~

 

Mr Scott had been taken to a large warehouse. Inside were about forty people working on an assembly line, weaving between the machinery. The workers were wearing what could barely be described as clothing, it was that worn and full of holes. Despite the lack of basic safety equipment and in many cases, shoes, they worked on building Jaeger parts. Some of the people there looked like they could have been as young as thirteen.

“This was not what we agreed,” Scott said to Bryson. “You were going to grant me a place on your crew and a green card so that I can work in the Los Angeles dome.”

“Too bad,” said Bryson. “Things have changed. And without money or a passport where do you intend to go?”

He left and Scott was lead to a bench. He was given a soldering iron and shown the step he needed to complete by the girl on his left. He picked up the first circuit board and tried not to think about how she looked the same age as his daughter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updates should be a little smoother over the next few days! As always comments and kudos are amazing and I really hope that you guys are enjoying this self indulgent AU!


	6. VI

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which I yet again skip over an actual fight with a Kaiju or action scenes in favour of writing dialogue, but the plot advances anyway.

“One hour until the exercise,” said Flint. “How are we looking?”

“Mostly done,” replied Gates. “The mechanical changes are finished, and Beauclerc’s program is installed. Now we just need to run diagnostics.”

“Good,” said Flint. “In the meantime -”

He was cut off by an alarm and a PA announcement.

“Movement in the breach, crews to your stations. Pilots, prepare for deployment.”

“Fuck,” said Gates. “So much for a training exercise.”

 

~

 

“Gates,” said Billy, grabbing his arm. “We need to talk.”

Gates looked at Billy, then down at his armour, and back at Billy.

“Now?”

“It’s urgent.”

“So’s the fucking cat three I’m meant to be fighting.”

“Please.”

“What is it Billy?”

“It’s about the Captain. I found an email from Mrs Barlow. Well, Dufresne found it while hacking into Bryson’s network, but still...”

“Oh for – Billy! This is not the time! We can deal with this after Flint and I send this fucking Kaiju to the bottom of the ocean.”

“No, but Gates, it mentions betrayal. She says that Flint is going to betray his country, or has.”

“We will deal with this _later.”_

Gates pulled his arm away and continued on his way to the Walrus.

“We need answers,” he heard Billy shout as he strode off.

 

~

 

“Good evening cunt.”

Eleanor stopped short, nearly walking into Anne as she rounded a corner. She took a step back.

“We need to talk,” said Anne.

“Why do we need to talk? I hear you have a new job, don’t you have facilities to be running?”

“’S about your friend.”

“If you’re here to threaten to deport her again...”

“No,” said Anne.

There was a long pause. Anne scowled at the floor and kicked at the wall.

“I need your help.”

“What?”

“Hamund keeps … harassing her. An’ I can’t get ‘im sacked cos they’d be mad at me. So I need you to do it.”

“If I get him sacked,” said Eleanor. “I have seven more of your fucking crew who will make me answer for it. And I’ve just had to agree to let you fly again. I do this and I lose my job.”

“Fine,” said Anne. “Should’ve known you’d be a fucking coward.”

“Excuse me?”

“You’re afraid to stand up to one fucking man. Cos you think it’s too dangerous to your job.”

“On the contrary,” said Eleanor. “You’re plan isn’t dangerous enough. There’s a whole world of pilots who’d kill for their jobs. I’d say it’s time we gave them to someone more deserving.”

Another pause. Anne looked at Eleanor’s face this time. Her scowl was less furious and more confused.

“We sack all of them? How the fuck we do that?”

Eleanor smiled.

“We just need a little help. And I know the man to do it.”

 

~

 

“It’s too risky,” said Scott.

“It’s our only chance,” argued Eme. “If the right people see this, we could be free.”

“Or, we could die. You don’t get fired from a job like this if you do something wrong. You die on the line, or they,” Scott gestured at the men with guns who patrolled the factory floor. “They kill you.”

“Better that than to live as slaves for the rest of our lives.”

“No,” said Scott. “I have someone back home that will be hurt if they catch us. Someone I care about.”

“We all had people we cared about,” said Eme. “Don’t you think that this person will be hurt enough by losing you to this place?”

“We may both be working in this factory,” said Scott. “But we are not in the same place.”

“Keep telling yourself that,” said Eme. “Keep telling yourself that you’re special. You said it yourself, once they have you here, they don’t let you go.”

“The answer is still no,” said Scott.

Eme said nothing more, just gave him a look. And on the underside of the circuit board she was soldering scratched the words “help us”. She did this for a number of other boards in small, shaky letters. She gave Scott a look that dared him to say something. He didn’t, but he didn’t scratch any words of his own either.

 

~

 

When Miranda’s doorbell rang at midnight she expected it would be James, back early from American Samoa. Or worse, the PPDC come to deliver the news that this time he hadn’t made it. Instead she found Pastor Lambrick.

“Pastor,” she said. “It’s late.”

“I need to speak with you,” he said. “You’re in grave danger.”

“Is that so?” she asked.

“Yes, there has been another Breaching. I had prayed that something might stop Captain Flint from returning and harming you, but the Kaiju has fallen before his hideous machine.”

“And because he defeated the Kaiju I’m in danger?”

“Yes. He will return and discover that you betrayed Richard Guthrie. For it was Flint who asked you to keep him here. And he will surely hurt you for this.”

“Goodnight Pastor.”

She turned to go back inside.

“Please,” he said. His voice trembling. “I would not be here if I did not fear for your safety. If he can kill our saviours, who knows what he will do to you.”

“I know,” she said.

“You cannot truly know his mind, he is a violent man.”

Miranda let out a laugh at that.

“Believe me Pastor, I know his mind.”

“How?”

She didn’t answer his question but instead looked up to the stars.

“You would have loved my husband,” she said.

“I’m sorry?”

“You think I can play devil’s advocate, Thomas would have run rings around you.” She looked him in the eyes. “He would have torn apart everything you believed about the world, about the Kaiju. Not from hate, but from love. From a desire to free you from your shame at being part of the human race.”

“I -”

“Captain Flint,” she continued, ignoring his attempt to speak. “Was my husband’s closest friend. He brought me here with him for safety after my husband died.”

“That does not change that you are in danger now!”

“Pastor,” she said. “I just told you that Flint saved me. He will not harm me. So let’s be honest with each other. It’s late, I am in no danger, and you are not here to save me.”

The Pastor said nothing.

“You are here because you want to fuck me.”

His eyes widened and he turned pale as she undid her dressing gown. She drew him to her, paying no mind to the night wind against her skin. When it was done, she held him close while he trembled with shame, fear and the aftermath of his orgasm.

 

~

 

“Well,” said Billy. “That could have been a hell of a lot worse.”

He and Dufresne stood and watched as Bryson and his men were taken away in cuffs.

“We’ve got the parts we need now,” said Dufresne. “The Andromache won’t be fighting any more, and with Bryson running an illegal sweatshop, he won’t be able to argue she should be repaired.”

“And we’re getting the parts and not the US?”

“Consider it a thank you present from the local authorities for disrupting the factory.”

“Fucking lucky,” said Billy. “That Miller saw that engraving.”

“Mmm,” said Dufresne.

“And that you’d already hacked his files and found out about the sweatshop.”

“It did help.”

Billy saw Gates waving him over.

“You did a good job,” he told Dufresne. “It may not have been legal, but it saved a lot of lives.”

He clapped Dufresne on the shoulder and headed off to speak with Gates.

 

~

 

“Eight men,” said Jack. “Hamund yes, but also a number of good, innocent, pilots. Who because of you and Eleanor are now going to spend the rest of their lives in jail.”

Anne shrugged.

“’S done.”

“Yes,” said Jack. “It is. And just what do you think our boss is going to say when he gets back from wherever the fuck he is and finds Hornigold’s men flying the helicopters?”

“You don’t know where he’s gone,” said Anne. She let out a surprised laugh. “He ain’t coming back.”

 

~

 

Billy and Flint worked against the rising storm to get the Walrus secured for flight. Over the waves below, the rain and the noise of the helicopter engines Flint shouted to Billy.

“Billy! What was in that email?”

Billy ignored him. Or maybe didn’t hear him.

“What was in the email Billy?”

Billy turned to look at him.

“I think you already know what was in it,” he shouted.

When Billy fell, his harness caught him. It saved him from being lost to the sea. Unfortunately it didn’t save him from hitting his head on the Walrus on the way down. The doctors managed to stabilise him with an induced coma. When or if he would wake up, well, only time would tell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Kaiju was called Scar (get it because Scarborough, I'm hilarious...), but sadly I couldn't find a good place to name it, so I'm Rowling it in here. As ever comments and kudos are the kindest gifts you can give, and I will love you forever and write even faster. You can find me here, or on twitter @the_haikubandit.


	7. VII

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lots of things happen, Flint gets very drunk and Charles Vane gives a monster what he deserves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a warning for a mention of child abuse during this when Vane deals with his past. It's brief but I wanted to give anyone who needs it the heads up.

“So,” said Gates. “You’ll be going to see Mrs Barlow then.”

“I’m sorry?” said Flint.

“Mrs Barlow,” said Gates. “You told Eleanor that you’d go and speak to her in person.”

“Yes.”

He walked with Flint towards the garage. When they got to Flint’s car he leant against the side.

“We need to talk,” said Gates. “About last night.”

“What about last night?”

Gates felt his jaw clench in anger and forced it to relax.

“About Billy. What happened to him?”

“He fell.”

“He told me about the email,” said Gates. “Mrs Barlow seems to think that you’re going to betray us. And I told him that we can’t trust what she says, because we don’t know anything about her. I’ve been inside your head, and _I_ don’t know anything about her.”

“It’s,” Flint searched for the right words. “Our relationship is complicated.”

“Welcome to any relationship.”

There was silence.

“Look,” continued Gates. “This is what we do, I stay out of your memories and you stay out of mine. We work well together despite that. But not today. Not after Billy. That boy, the one I consider my son, is in a coma. And I can’t help but think that it’s due to you and that woman. Because he knew that you somehow planned to betray us.”

“She’s desperate,” said Flint. “She just wants to leave, and she’d say anything to do that. To go far away from the ocean. That’s all.”

“No,” said Gates. “No more lies. I know the truth about the Marie Aleyne. I was in your head that day, remember? And I looked the other way because I told myself I could trust you. But I’m tired of the energy it takes to believe you. To believe in you.”

“I’m doing this for the world!” said Flint. “To protect the world from monsters, Hal. And apparently there aren’t enough monsters and now I need to be made into one.”

“I’ll ask again,” said Gates. “What happened to Billy?”

“He slipped in the rain and fell.”

Gates shook his head.

“I can’t believe you,” he said. “So here’s what’s going to happen. We’ll test your precious Urca. And then you, and your woman can go far, far away from here. And we’ll hand the system over to someone else. When it’s done, you and I will go our separate ways. And I’ll thank you not to protest.”

He walked away before Flint could say anything more. He held the image of Billy, surrounded by tubes and machines, in his mind. He would not let himself be dragged into Flint’s madness again. Not after what it had cost his son.

 

~

 

It had been a long time since Charles Vane had gone home. And with good reason. He’d left Grafton as a teenager with nothing but a tattoo, a stolen knife and the clothes on his back. He never thought he’d be back. But he needed a ground crew, good mechanics who could be relied upon to be loyal.

More importantly, if he was going to go through with his plan to lead a Jaeger team, he needed to prove to himself that he deserved to lead. Leadership, he thought, required strength. And he couldn’t be sure of his strength without facing Albinus.

He ignored the other voice inside him. The one that was telling him that he’d given up and was looking for an early grave before a Kaiju put him there.

“I’m here to see your boss,” he said to the scrawny boy at the gate.

Two bearded men came out first, and there was the obligatory pat down to check for weapons. They found nothing. He wasn’t stupid enough to bring any with him.

 

~

 

Miranda heard the sound of James’ car outside and took a deep breath. But there was no avoiding this confrontation.

“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” he asked. He stood just inside the doorway, hands clenched into fists by his side.

“I did what I had to,” she said. “We need to stop living like this James! _I_ need to stop living like this.”

“You nearly cost me everything! Guthrie was supposed to be safe here with you. And that email you sent? Billy saw it!”

“Richard Guthrie tried to bribe me so that I’d let him go,” she said. “He’s safer behind bars. And I knew that either you’d be fired and we could finally leave, or that Eleanor would take his place officially and I could leave this house. After my email she made me an offer, and I am _very_ willing to take it”

“Did you forget what we went though, what we escaped, just so you could live here in this country? In this house?”

“This isn’t living!” She knew she was shouting, but couldn’t bring herself to care. She’d had enough of this. “There is no life here, there is no joy here, there is no love here!”

“What do you think I’ve been fighting for if not to allow us a life?”

“I’m sick of this,” she said. “You won’t give up this fight? Fine. In that case I’m going to actually do something other than garden and watch the news, hoping you’ll be safe at the end of the day.”

“I’m supposed to keep you safe,” he said. “That was all that – That was what I promised. Getting back into a Jaeger, that isn’t safe. Working anywhere inside that base isn’t safe!”

“You choose,” she said, her voice calm again, but in a way that made clear she would accept no further argument. “Either we both leave, or we both fight. And even if I can’t get into a cockpit, I can at least do something. I need to use my brain instead of wasting it.”

“I can’t… He...”

“If he were here,” she said. “He’d agree with me.”

At that James left, slamming the door so hard her windows shook.

 

~

 

“I need twelve men,” said Charles. “Each man gets a wage, and you get double what they’ll earn, just for letting them go.”

“Why come here?” asked Albinus. “Who in Sydney knew to send you here?”

“Does it matter? I’ve made my offer, take it or leave it.”

The following silence could only have lasted for a minute or so, but it felt like an age. Charles felt his fingers itch for a knife, a gun, anything he could arm himself with. He forced himself to keep still. He was nearly done, and then he could leave again and be free of this fucking hell hole.

“Four times,” said Albinus.

“What?”

“I want four times their wage. You give me that, and you can take them to work at your base.”

Charles opened his mouth to agree but was distracted by the boy, the same one who he’d met at the gate.

“Well?” asked Albinus. “Do we have a deal?”

 

~

 

“We’re glad to have you back,” said Idelle. “Everyone’s been talking about what you did.”

“And what did I do?” asked Max.

“You got Hamund and his lot fired. And not only that, arrested.”

“I had nothing to do with their arrest. Clearly it was the work of this country’s fine police.”

“Yeah, and I’m Stacker Pentecost.”

Max looked at Idelle and raised her eyebrows.

“Anyway,” said Idelle. “Just a heads up, because I don’t know what you’re planning to do here. Get as much as you can and have an exit strategy waiting.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Jack hasn’t got a clue how to run this place. Parts, food, even the stationery, everyone’s selling whatever they can through the Russians. I hear that Mrs Mapleton managed to make off with one of the photocopiers.”

“I see,” was all Max said.

 

~

 

Charles watched Albinus walk away, arm slung around the boy. His ears were still ringing with the words “make me rich”. That was the cost for all of this. He got the men he needed to run a Jaeger, and Albinus got enough money to keep the gang running for years.

“ _That boy was you once,”_ said a voice inside his head. _“He used you to run his drugs, he used you to smuggle his guns, he used you to warm his...”_

He forced his mind not to finish that thought. 

“ _Fuck that,”_ thought Charles. _“I’m going to earn my power.”_

He stepped forward and addressed the clubhouse.

 

~

 

“Eleanor,” Scott said as he entered her office. “You asked to see me?”

“I did,” said Eleanor. “I looked into what I could do for them.”

“And?”

“I wasn’t able to swing working visas for everyone,” she said. “Blah blah, skilled labour, blah. All that anti-immigration bullshit that conveniently gets ignored if it’s a fucking au-pair for their fucking mates.”

Scott coughed once to get her back on track.

“Anyway,” she said. “I managed to get most of them a job with Lawrence and the Black Hind. All but nine. Those nine have to make do on temporary protection visas, which is one step above nothing, but I got them work and board here, so they have that. And if the visas are rescinded it might give them the experience they need to work at another shatterdome.”

“Thank you,” he said. “This means a lot.”

“You don’t need to thank me for being a decent person.”

She fiddled with one of her rings.

“Are you sure that you want to work under Hornigold?” she blurted out, unable to keep it in any longer. “If you ever change your mind...”

“I know,” said Scott. “But I cannot be part of Flint’s plan. And as long as I’m involved I’ll be tempted to shut it down. I need to go.”

 

~

 

Charles didn’t care if he won or lost the fight. Every blow he landed on Albinus felt like victory in and of itself. Revenge for all the years he’d been mistreated, and all the things he’d had to do. He thought he’d overflow with the sheer fucking joy of it.

And he might have won. Despite Albinus’ size it was a close call. Albinus lacked the pure rage that filled Charles, and, who knew when he’d last had to fight himself. That was what he had lieutenants for these days.

But in the end Albinus pulled him in close.

“I’m proud of you,” he whispered. Charles felt himself fill with pride, and with shame for the fact that anything this man said mattered to him.

His internal tug of war gave Albinus the final advantage, and as he smashed his foot into Charles’ face the blackness closed in.

 

~

 

“Here’s the order,” said one of the girls, Jack hadn’t gotten her name yet. “The supplier gets paid in cash and you didn’t have it ready so I had to take it out of the petty cash.”

“What? How much?”

“$476. It’s the stationery order for this month. And we had to order extra printer ink.”

Jack sighed and put his head in his hands. Yet another fucking expense. His annual budget was disappearing faster than he would have thought possible.

“The order was from Ms Holt, correct?”

Max’s accented voice cut through his thoughts about leaving this whole place for the monsters.

“I’m sorry?” asked the girl. Really, what the fuck was her name?

“The stationery order,” said Max slowly, as though she was speaking with a five year old child. “We order through Ms Holt, do we not?”

“I – yes.”

“And Ms Holt has always invoiced us.”

“Uh -”

“So given that we will have already paid this invoice from the account, why are you paying her again in cash?”

“Look, she’s changed her policy!”

“And will she confirm that?” asked Max. “Or will you return the petty cash and pray that our new boss is more forgiving than the last one?”

The girl looked at Jack in a panic, and he tried to force his face from shocked to stern and threatening as fast as he could.

“It won’t happen again,” she said. “I swear it on my mother’s grave. Well, she’s not dead but like, when she is I swear it on her grave, in the future. Just, I promise! Please don’t fire me!”

Jack nodded once, not trusting himself to speak. She handed him the money and left the room as fast as she could.

Max leant down over his desk.

“Get your fucking house in order,” she said.

 

~

 

Naked, covered in dust and his own blood, Charles Vane stumbled unnoticed into the gang’s clubhouse. He saw a crowbar leaning against one of the walls and lifted it. This was what he had come here to do. This was what he had been born to do.

Albinus never saw him strike the final blow. Iron cracked his skull and covered Charles with yet more blood. He fell sideways off his chair and Charles felt the eyes of the clubhouse upon him.

He lowered the crowbar and met their gaze, adrenaline pumping through his veins. After years of running and hiding, he was finally, truly, free.

 

~

Eleanor headed down to the shatterdome’s bar when she’d finally dealt with the last of the paperwork for Lawrence. Hopefully the new workers would stop the man threatening to defect to a different base. He wasn’t a good pilot by any means, nor was his co-pilot Harrison. But she needed them as bargaining chips.

She’d hoped to have a quiet drink, maybe two, and some peace. Unfortunately, one very familiar face caught her eye as she scanned the room. Although for a moment, she didn’t recognise him.

“Flint?”

He looked up and then, ignoring her, reached for the large bottle of rum in front of him. She grabbed it before he could pour himself any.

“I think you’ve had more than enough,” she told him. It was certainly true if the smell was anything to go by.

“They haven’t cut me off yet.”

“Because you’re a fucking celebrity pilot and no one has the balls to question you when you make stupid choices.”

This made him wince and his shoulders shook. Oh god, was he crying?

“Come on,” she said gently. “Let’s get you somewhere a little more private.”

 

He let her help him to his quarters in silence. She thanked her lucky stars that the hallways were mostly empty at this time of night. The last thing they needed was for his crew to see him like this.

“So,” she said as he sat on his bed and tried to remove his boots. “Do you think it’s wise to get so drunk 36 hours before you test a brand new neural system?”

“No,” he said. “But then I thought that there were still 36 hours and, well.” He gestured vaguely at himself.

“We don’t need anyone to doubt you after everything we’ve been through for this,” she said.

“Perhaps a little doubt in me is called for.”

He stared at the floor and she pretended not to notice he’d only managed to get one boot off. What on earth had pushed him to get this drunk?

“Tell me we’re not crazy you and I,” he said, interrupting her thoughts. “To put ourselves through all of this, when the outcome’s so uncertain.”

She’d heard Flint angry, and she’d heard him persuasive. She’d even heard him speak and sound like he was grieving some unknown loss. Until this moment she’d never heard him sound hopeless.

“It’s only uncertain for those who don’t believe,” she told him. “You can do this, Gates can do this. There’s a reason that I’m trusting the two of you to do this drift.”

He made a noise that either was a laugh or a sob. She didn’t know which.

“Get some rest,” she told him. Before she could leave he suddenly stood in front of her.

“Thank you,” he whispered, and kissed her forehead.

She left then and later hoped, off-handedly, that he had managed to take his second boot off before he fell asleep.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay on this one! I lost my notes (because I'm old fashioned and need to physically write things down) and then managed to have a massive flair up. Turns out that stress is bad for chronic illness! Who knew! But I should have this finished in the next week :)
> 
> Anyone who comments or leaves kudos is amazing and a bigger hero than any Jaeger pilot to me <3
> 
> As always I'm on twitter @the_haikubandit.


	8. VIII

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Look! People finally drift!

“So, tomorrow it is then,” said Gates. He stood awkwardly then nodded, and moved to leave.

“Wait,” said Flint. He held up a bottle. “Stay for a drink?”

Gates said nothing.

“It’s Glenfiddich,” said Flint. “I figure after tomorrow either Eleanor will owe me a bottle, or -”

“Or we’ll be too dead to care.”

“Or that.”

Gates knew he shouldn’t. He was still furious with Flint, and was still planning to leave after this drift. And to ensure that Flint had to leave. But, well…

“One drink,” he said. “For old times sake.”

He sat and took the glass that Flint poured. It was a damn good whiskey.

“The man who got me this bottle,” said Flint. “Could find black market booze with his eyes closed while a Kaiju attacked. What was his name? Geoffrey? Alfonso?”

“I don’t know who the fuck you’re talking about,” said Gates. “The man who got you that bottle was called Craig.”

“Craig! That was it!”

Gates rolled his eyes.

“Remember when he won that bottle of booze off the flight crew playing poker?” asked Flint.

“And he was convinced it was top quality vodka.”

“Took a massive swig, and it was metho.”

“And it was metho!”

Flint laughed harder than he had in a long time. So did Gates.

“Whatever happened to Mr Craig?”

“We worked together in Beijing,” said Gates. “When all of this first started. And then he came back here with me. He was very nearly my drift partner, but he couldn’t deal with the stress of it all.”

Flint lost his grin at that.

“He kept telling me, if I die, go to my room and I’ll leave you everything I own. And it’ll be a lot. He claimed he’d made a fortune on the black market.”

Gates took a large sip of his whiskey.

“We lost him when Parson attacked Townsville. His helicopter was knocked into the ocean and he drowned. So, when we get back to Sydney I go to his room. And I find $50, a broken watch and a letter addressed to his sister in Melbourne. Lying sack of shit was Mr Craig! I bought a round for the crew with the $50, lost the watch in a poker game, and spent two weeks leave in Melbourne trying to find his sister. But I couldn’t, she’d moved and nobody knew where. In the end, I got a lift out to sea with a mate and when we couldn’t see land, tore up his letter and threw it into the sea.”

They were both silent.

“There are no legacies in this life are there?” continued Gates. “Not for the people who aren’t pilots. No monuments, no history. Just the water. It pays them and then it claims them. Swallows them whole as if they’d never been here at all.”

There was another long silence.

“To Mr Craig,” said Gates, raising his glass.

“To Mr Craig,” echoed Flint.

 

~

 

Flint and Gates next saw each other as they hurried towards Eleanor’s office. The text message they had received simply stated “We’re fucked, get here now.”

When they reached her office they saw a group of five people in suits, and one in military dress.

“Pilots,” said Eleanor, her voice tight. “These are delegates from the Peruvian government. They’re here to speak with us about L’Urca de Lima.

 

~

 

Gates and Flint stepped into the cockpit of L’Urca and nodded to each other as they were secured in place. This was it. The Peruvian government may have taken back the original plans, but after all their work on the Jaeger, it was too late to take this from them. After all, if this didn’t work they would have spared the Peruvians the expense of creating the test model.

Everything depended on this single drift.

Flint breathed deeply, trying to shift himself into the mindset that allowed Gates to share his head. He knew that on his right Gates would be doing the same thing. Some pilot teams had to work harder to share their minds than others.

“Prepare for neural handshake,” said De Groot. “In three, two, one...”

The rush of blue and memories was always a shock. It was stronger in L’Urca, and brighter. The memories felt realer than normal. Flint struggled a little to keep sense of it.

Gates seemed to be trying to direct it.

 

_Flint was on top of a Jaeger, the Walrus, in a storm. “I think you already know what was in it,” shouted Billy. And that dragged Flint to Miranda, her hands playing piano while he watched from the doorway, to the Pitcairn Islands, naval uniforms, the sound of machines and power tools, to Thomas..._

 

Flint tried to wrench them away.

“You are drifting out of alignment,” he heard De Groot shout. “Vital signs are spiking.”

“ _You don’t get away that easily,”_ came the thought from Gates. 

Flint pushed back.

 

_Gates in an old army uniform, joking and walking with Hornigold in the Beijing ‘dome._

_Gates helping Billy settle into work away from the wall. Helping him talk through the nightmares._

_Billy lying on a bed, surrounded by tubes, monitors beeping._

 

Flint felt Gates try to pull away this time. Flint was stronger than he was, had drifted more, knew how to play games of mental hide and seek.

 

_Gates in the bar talking to Dufresne, talking about betraying Flint._

 

“Someone pull the plug, their heart rates are dangerously high. And the neural feedback is unstable.”

The voice was distant and far away. Gates gave a final struggle, pushed Flint away from the bar and back to Billy, back towards thoughts of Thomas.

“ _No,”_ thought Flint. “ _No, no, no, no, no...”_

 

_He was kissing Thomas, he was kissing Miranda, he was yelling at Alfred, Thomas lay inside the MRI, he was in the Jaeger, his Jaeger, their Jaeger, for the first time, he was on the deck of his ship, he was..._

 

And then he felt Gates go, felt his mind flicker and disappear. And the pain spiked through his chest, their chest, Gates’ chest. And then his own body was burning and he was spat out of the drift. Somehow he dragged himself across to Gates as voices shouted and all he could do was whisper.

“This is not what I wanted. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry...”

The pain overwhelmed him then, and everything faded into blackness.

 

~

 

Eleanor found Vane in her office, lounging back in her chair while he hand rolled a cigarette.

“What the fuck do you think you’re playing at?”

“Hello, have a seat.” He waved towards one of the chairs in front of the desk. She stayed standing.

“You think,” she said. “That you can just march in here with a group of random fucking strangers and now you’re entitled to anything?”

“Yes,” he said.

“And why do you think that?”

“Because I’ve shut down your Jaegers while you were all so distracted with your little experiment.”

“I have enough engineers down there to bypass what you did.”

“True,” he said, putting his cigarette behind his ear. “But can you do it before the next Kaiju attack? Before two? Before three?”

Eleanor folded her arms and said nothing. They both knew that he was right. A base couldn’t run without the Jaegers, and they had just lost a pilot team as it was.

“Why are you doing this?” she asked.

“I tried being an employee here,” he said. “It didn’t work out. So I want to be in charge.”

“You want my job?”

“I’ll settle for running your operations team.”

Eleanor sat.

“The Walrus stays with De Groot,” she said eventually. “You can have the Black Hind.”

“Black Hind is a piece of shit.”

“So fix it.”

“Black Hind and the Intrepid. De Groot can keep the Walrus.”

“And what the fuck do I offer Hornigold?”

“He can look after the helicopters or something.” Vane waved a hand. “Not my problem. I want the Jaegers. In return you get them back in operation and a team of decent mechanics.”

It was the best offer she was likely to get. And honestly? Fuck Hornigold.

“Fine,” she said. “But know this. The minute that you or your men fuck up, I will push you into the fucking sea.”

 

~

 

Jack felt his face grinning uncontrollably as he and Anne were fixed into the cockpit of the Urca. He knew he should probably be worried given that the last two pilots who tried this were either dead or in medical, but all he could feel was a wild excitement. If this worked, if they could prove that the two of them were the right pilots for this, their names would go down in history. This would be one hell of a fucking legacy.

"Prepare for neural handshake in three, two, one,” said Featherstone.

Jack and Anne’s eyes met before they were tugged under in a wave of memory.

 

_Anne standing over him after their first match in the dojo, her hand extended._

_The two of them locked up in a police cell, Jack yelling at the door citing relevant legal cases and swearing with words even Anne hadn’t heard in the same breath. Anne sat on the bench watching him from under her hat, her bloody hands shaking and her heart swelling with love._

_Anne pinning Jack to a wall and kissing him so hard he could feel his lips bruise, feel their lips bruise._

 

“Neural handshake steady and holding,” said Featherstone. “And your sync rate is off the charts. You guys okay in there?”

“We’re fine,” they said in unison.

They could feel their thoughts being blended into one, and it wasn’t like any other drift they’d experienced. There was no more Anne, no more Jack. They were just, them. Completely and utterly one. There was no hint of the individual left, this was something new.

“We’re going to try and hold this for ten minutes,” said Featherstone. “If your vitals are still okay after that, we’ll push for half an hour. That should give us the data we need to take to Eleanor.”

“Run the simulation,” they said.

“Are you sure?”

“Run it.”

“Preparing simulation,” said Featherstone. They could hear his doubt. “We’re prepared to pull the plug as soon as your vitals change.”

 

Later they toasted to their new Jaeger with Max and a bottle of stolen champagne before they three of them, Jack and Anne still locked in each others minds, fell into bed together.

 

~

 

“I’m sorry,” said Silver. “You’re choosing to do this now?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” asked Dufresne.

“Well,” said Silver. “The plans for L’Urca de Lima have been taken back by the Peruvian Government, one of your pilots is dead, and the other is lying in the medbay with severe circuit burns. Have I missed anything?”

There was an awkward silence. None of the group would meet his eyes. De Groot eventually broke it.

“We need to have the Walrus running. If there is an attack, we cannot be without a Jaeger. It puts everyone at risk.”

“Sure, and the fact that you’re now going to keep your job running operations for her, and Dufresne gets a piloting role has nothing to do with it. And who the fuck do you plan to drift with anyway?”

“There will of course be trials,” said Dufresne. “Someone will be suitable.”

“Good luck with that,” said Silver. “I’m going to the medbay for when an actual pilot wakes up.”

 

~

 

James woke and regretted it immediately. His shoulder burned like it had been shot and his whole body ached. He wasn’t entirely sure of where he was. The last he could remember, he’d been on the deck of his ship. Or wait, he’d been falling and then he must have hit the water. But someone had been with him. He felt that if he could just remember who he’d been with, he would be able to figure out what had happened.

“Flint?”

What the fuck was that supposed to mean? The voice was hesitant and he turned his head towards it. A young man with long black hair. James idly thought that he was pretty. He should tell Thomas about him later.

“Why am I still alive?” he asked. “Who pulled me out of the water?”

“Uh -” The man wrinkled his forehead in confusion. “You weren’t in the water, you were in the cockpit.”

“A cockpit?”

James shook his head. It hurt, but the pain made his vision a little clearer.

“L’Urca. Do you remember the drift test? It… didn’t go well. You made it out, but Gates...”

Oh. _Oh._ Hal. L’Urca de Lima. James suddenly remembered what had happened and where he was. He remembered who he was.

“Silver?”

“Oh thank fuck...”

 

~

 

“This is it,” said Eleanor. “We’ve got fuck all budget for you at the moment, but see if you can impress the PPDC with the specimens they’ve given you and they’ll get you some more Kaiju parts the next time something we kill something.”

Miranda looked around the lab. It was tiny and out of the way in what appeared to be an old maintenance room. There was a computer on a single desk, and a metal dissection table on wheels. A fridge in the corner had a biohazard sign taped to it at an angle and presumably housed her specimens. In the corner was a single sink.

At least she’d brought in her own microscope and dissection tools.

She was going to have her work cut out for her, but after several years playing at being a suburban housewife, it was glorious.

She breathed deeply and smiled.

“It’s a fucking mess,” said Eleanor. “But good luck. I’ll send Max down to discuss ordering lab supplies with you.”

“It’s a very good start,” she told Eleanor. “Thank you. I appreciate this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading this and I hope you enjoyed it! I've got a prequel/sequel planned so if you liked this, subscribe to the series and it'll eventually update! Comments and kudos are amazing as always, and thank you so much to everyone for the comments and kudos you've left so far. It's meant a lot at a very chaotic time <3 
> 
> Find me in the drift, here, or on twitter @the_haikubandit.


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